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Goldstein Made Mark in Israel as Leading Scholar in Civil ProcedureBy Walter Campbell

A former Penn Law professor who became dean of
the law school at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Stephen
R. Goldstein, C’59, L’62, died in Israel on May 17 after a battle
with pancreatic cancer. He was 70.

Over the course of nearly 30 years Goldstein became a leading
legal scholar in Israel. His familiarity with the U.S. legal system
provided him the lens and the expertise to offer perspective
on the differences between the two systems. A prolific writer, he
wrote five books and published more than one hundred book
chapters and papers on issues ranging from civil procedure to
child welfare to the state school system.

“Steve was a major figure in both Israeli and comparative
civil procedure,” said Edward B. Rock, the Saul A. Fox Distinguished
Professor of Business at Penn Law and longtime
friend of Goldstein’s who visited him regularly in Israel. “Over
the years, as the Israeli legal system became more similar to the
U.S. system, Steve’s ability to translate the U.S. experience was
invaluable to the development of Israeli civil procedure.”

Goldstein was a member of the faculty at The Hebrew University
of Jerusalem from 1976 to 2004, serving as dean of the
law school for three years. In addition, he served as a member of
the editorial board of the Israel Law Review and international
adviser to the American Law Institute Project on Transnational
Civil Procedure.

Before finding a home in Israel, Goldstein called the University
of Pennsylvania home. He graduated summa cum laude
from the University in 1959 and from the Law School in 1962,
where he was a member of the Order of the Coif.

Following law school, he practiced law at Wolf, Block, Schorr
& Solis-Cohen and clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Arthur
Goldberg. He returned to the law school in 1966, teaching
Civil Procedure until he left for Israel in 1976.

“It was difficult to leave Penn, which had been my academic
and professional home for many years, but the attraction of
moving to Israel was very strong for me and my family,” Goldstein
said in an interview several years ago.

Goldstein left an imprint in his ten years as a member of the
Penn Law faculty.

Howard Lesnick, the Jefferson B. Fordham Professor of Law,
knew Goldstein as both a student and a colleague. He “took
to the academic way of thinking and puzzling out things right
away. He had a very fertile mind, and liked thoroughly working
through a challenging legal problem,” said Lesnick.

Emeritus Professor Robert Gorman echoed the sentiment,
saying that not only was he a great teacher with “amazing intellectual
strength, but he was also one of the most down to earth,
pleasant, and amiable people I’ve known.”

Rock, who met Goldstein while on sabbatical at the Hebrew
University in 1995, said, “He loved Jerusalem, he loved moving
to Tel Aviv near his kids and the beach, he loved life. He was a
real mensch.”

Goldstein is survived by his wife Gertrude; his children Marcie
Wattelman and Dr. Richard Goldstein; and his five grandchildren,
Maya, Ben, Nitsan, Roey, and Daniel.